Charles Cooley suggested that we are not simply what we perceive ourselves to be. Instead, we are what we imagine others perceive us to be. His theory, known as “The Looking-Glass Self,” proposed that we create the value of ourselves based on paying attention to what others around us...

I was working with one of my clients that runs a feed yard, and he told me a story that he had once told his kids. He was getting across the message that we often fight with others over things that simply don’t matter. He wanted them to get the proper perspective in their mind before...